


Waiting for Snow (Not Rain, Not Mist, Not a Freakin' Blizzard)

by uofmdragon



Category: Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M, Snow, Weather, Winter Walks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-07
Updated: 2013-01-07
Packaged: 2017-11-24 00:43:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/628352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uofmdragon/pseuds/uofmdragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coulson likes to walks in the winter when the snow is falling.  Clint has a plan to confess his feelings during one of those walks, now if only the weather would cooperate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waiting for Snow (Not Rain, Not Mist, Not a Freakin' Blizzard)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Feelstide 2012 Prompt #19 Winter Walks

Phil sighed as he looked outside at the falling snow. He was was still bedridden, slowly healing from being stabbed by Loki. It hurt, and he just wanted to go outside, take a walk in the cold weather and admire the falling snow. He couldn't while stuck in the bed though.

"What's the matter boss?" Clint asked softly. Clint had been at his side since the Avengers found out that he was still alive.

"I love this time of year," Phil admitted.

"Yeah?" 

Phil smiled, because Clint sounded so doubtful about it. "Its beautiful out, especially at night when the snow falls. The fresh stuff actually twinkles under the streetlights."

"You make it sound really nice," Clint said.

"It is," Phil agreed, "I love to take walks in it. You'll have to join me next time."

"I... I think I'd like that," Clint said softly.

"It'll have to be next year, I'm afraid I'm not mobile enough for this year," Phil admitted. "But there's next year."

"Yeah," Clint agreed softly, "Next year."

~One Year Later~

Clint sighed softly as he checked the weather again for the thousandth time time that day. No snow expected, just rain. He had plans, plans that were being foiled by the weather.

"Is there a reason you're checking the weather again?" Tony asked.

"No," Clint denied, thinking about Phil and the conversation they'd had a year ago—Phil liked to go for walks when the snow fell. He wanted to go on that walk with him, but the weather wasn't cooperating. It was sunny and just above freezing, so whatever precipitation they did get was cold, freezing rain.

"You sure?" Tony asked, "I mean you've got to have a reason for the weather."

"I'm sure," Clint growled, debating his choices. He'd just have to put off his plans again.

"He's waiting for it to snow," Natasha said, appearing out of nowhere as was her wont.

"What's so important about snow?" Tony asked, looking at her.

"Hmm, you want to explain it, Clint?" Natasha asked, with a knowing smile.

"Explain what?" Clint asks.

"Why you're so interested in it snowing?"

"I like to be aware of the weather conditions," Clint lied.

Natasha snorted at that, "Bullshit, he wants it to snow, because Coulson likes to take walks."

"Coulson?" Tony repeated, considering this. Tony grinned, "So wait, Robin Hood over there has a thing for our resident Man in Black?"

"No," Clint denied it as Natasha stated, "Yes."

Tony's smile widened even further. "I think you object too much, Legolas."

"I do not have a thing for Coulson," Clint repeated.

"You do," Natasha stated.

"I do not," Clint growled, because Tony was right there, eyes bright as he took in every word they said.

"So The Archer and the Agent, sounds like one of those Harlequin Romance titles," Tony said.

"Coulson is my handler, that's it," Clint lied.

"Yeah, I'm sure you'd like him to handle some things," Tony joked.

"Do you really think I'd be attracted to someone that does paperwork for fun?" Clint asked, even though he knew it wasn't true.

"Everyone has their kinks," Tony replied with a grin.

"Please, Coulson wouldn't know fun, if it bit him on the ass," Clint replied. "I bet he wouldn't know what to do if someone kept the lights on during sex."

"I don't know, he's pretty quiet, aren't the quiet ones supposed to be the secretly kinky?" Tony asked, glancing at Natasha for confirmation, who simply arched an eyebrow at him.

"Kink to Coulson is having his partner dress up like Captain America," Clint replied, looking at Tony, missing Natasha quick shake of her head "He's got two personalities, one is robot shield agent and the other is Cap fanboy, do you really think I want to be with someone who has no life outside of the office?"

A throat cleared behind Clint and he froze, because he knew his luck, which meant Coulson had to be behind him. He glanced at Natasha, who was looking at him like he was an idiot, which indicated that it was Coulson.

"Agent!" Tony greeted him, "We were just talking about you." Clint winced, because maybe he could have tried to save it, but there was no way now.

"I came to drop off some paperwork," Coulson said, and Clint watched him out of the corner of his eye pass by him. The mask was on and it was one of the few masks that hid everything that Coulson was thinking from Clint. He'd had years to figure out Coulson's tells, but nothing was showing now.

"Great," Tony said, "just leave it on a table, I'll get to it... sometime."

"Its for Agents Romanov and Barton," Coulson said, holding out a file folder toward Clint without looking at him. Clint took the folder, trying to meet Coulson's eyes. "I need it by tomorrow."

"Yes, sir," Clint said and then Coulson left. Clint twisted to watch him go.

*

Clint dropped down next to Natasha a few days later, "I think I fucked up."

"Oh?" Natasha asked, arching an eyebrow. "What have you realized you fucked up now?"

"Coulson," Clint replied.

"Insulting the man while he was nearby, and thus ensuring that he's positive that you're not interested in him and he's not quite sure why you two are friends..." Natasha stated.

"Yeah," Clint agreed, frowning. "I don't know if I can fix it, I've tried apologizing and he accepted it, but he's been avoiding me since then."

"Give it some time," Natasha suggested. "He will get over it."

Clint sighed, slumping down next to her. "Do you think a present would help?"

"What kind of present?" Natasha asked.

"Coffee?" Clint said. "I could put it on his desk or something."

Natasha considered this, "It couldn't hurt, I'd suggest you get the good stuff though."

Clint nods, before slipping away from her and heading outside. There's a small coffee shop several blocks away, but it makes some of Coulson's favorite coffee. He doesn't get it very often, because its too much of a hike just for coffee and Coulson is a workaholic, though Clint actually admires his dedication. If Clint was honest with himself, he was just as bad as Coulson when it came to working. They both loved their jobs, loved trying to make the world a safer place.

Clint's nose wrinkled as he stepped outside. It was drizzling outside, cold, but not cold enough for snow. Clint hunched into his jacket and set off for the coffee shop. He hadn't given up on the hope of going for a walk with the snow falling lightly to tell Coulson his feelings. It just was increasingly unlikely, because Coulson was avoiding him outside of work. He had to repair their friendship, because that was the most important. He could survive without more, had accepted that anything more would never happen between them a long time ago, but Coulson's "death" had made him rethink everything. He'd decided to risk it, had almost told him in the hospital, but Coulson had needed to recover—that much was obvious—and Clint was worried that Coulson would be uncomfortable. If Coulson was uncomfortable, Clint wouldn't have been able to have been there for him. Now was the perfect time, Coulson was doing so much better and he could rebuff Clint and hopefully they'd have time to fix anything that might have gotten broken. He didn't want to break it beyond repair though, so he had to fix this first.

Clint was wrapped up in his thoughts that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and found himself running into a group of women. "Sorry," he muttered.

"It's alright Sug," The woman said with a thick southern accent. Clint moved to let them by and realized he's recognized that voice. He turned to look at the back of their heads, one was wearing a hood, the other a red head and the other had white hair. Clint had run into the hooded one, but there was something about the posture of all three women that Clint recognized and one of them just might be useful.

"Hey, wait," Clint called after them. The women stiffened, but turned to look at him. Clint took a few steps in, so not to be overheard. "You're some of the X-Men."

"I'm sorry, I believe you have us confused," The white haired woman said, with what Clint thought sounded like a mixture of African accents.

"No, I'm not, I don't forget when a lovely woman saves me from falling to my death," Clint replies, looking at the woman he'd bumped into earlier. "I'm Hawkeye."

"Funny, I always thought you'd be taller," Rogue said, at least he thought her codename was Rogue.

"Listen, I'm not here to cause trouble, I just want to talk," Clint said, holding up his hands. He twitched suddenly, thinking he felt something in his mind.

"He's telling the truth," The Redhead said for the first time, eyeing him curiously.

"Let me buy you a cup of coffee, there's a great place about a block that way," Clint offered.

The three women looked at one another, before Rogue nodded, "Alright, Sug, lead the way."

"I'm Clint by the way," he said, holding out his hand.

"Rogue," She replied, taking it. "This is Jean and Ororo." She added indicating the other women. Clint smiled and turned to lead them to the coffee shop. It took them a few minutes to get settled in a corner booth that was out of the way.

"What can we do for you, Clint?" Jean asked after taking a sip of her drink.

"To be honest, its not really you two," Clint said, looking at Rogue and Jean. He looked at Ororo. "But I think you could."

Ororo arched an elegant eyebrow at him, "How can I help you?"

"You can manipulate the weather, right?" Clint asked.

"Yes," Ororo replied, looking guarded.

"Can you sense when certain weather patterns are going to happen?" Clint asked.

"If I look, yes," Ororo said, looking more curious.

Clint nodded, "Alright, here's the thing, there's, there's someone I've had feelings for... a really long time and I kinda gave up on anything more than being friends. He got hurt, really badly, and I decided to tell him."

"That's great, how'd it go?" Rogue asked.

"I haven't actually done it yet," Clint admitted, ducking his head. "He, uh, mentioned that he loved to take walks in the winter at night with the snow falling, so I was kind of waiting for that to happen, but the weather hasn't been cooperating."

"You want me to make it happen?" Ororo asked.

"No," Clint said, quickly, "Well, maybe tweak it, if its close, but nothing that is going to hurt anything. Mostly I just want you to let me know when its about to happen, so I can make arrangements."

Ororo considered him and glanced at the other two women. "I could do this for you, but I would require something in return."

"What?" Clint asked, his hackles going up.

"It is only a matter of time until the Avengers roster is expanded," Ororo stated, "If you are consulted on who gets put on the roster, you advocate for a mutant."

"One of you?" Clint asked.

"No," Ororo replied. "I believe the three of us are content as X-Men."

"Avengers are more popular than us, we'd like to see a mutant your team," Jean added.

"Any mutant then?" Clint asked.

Ororo nodded.

"I can't guarantee I can get a mutant on the team," Clint stated.

"We're not asking for a guarantee," Jean said, "We want you to try, if you're asked, you suggest that the roster needs a mutant."

"That's it," Ororo replied. "Agree to try and I'll send you a notification."

Clint looked at the three of them, before nodding and promising, "I'll try."

*

Clint whistled softly as he made his way to Coulson's office. Things weren't back to normal between them, but they were better. He slipped into the office, after a brief knock on the door. "Hey boss."

"Barton," Coulson said glancing up at him, before going back to work.

"You busy?" Clint asked.

Coulson glanced up at him, "It can wait, if what you need is important."

"Awesome, grab your jacket," Clint replied, "I'll meet you at the South entrance." He slipped back out to go and get his own. It took him a few minutes to grab his own jacket and tug a scarf and gloves on as he made his way to the South entrance where Coulson was waiting with a confused, patient look to him.

"You don't have your bow," Coulson noted.

"Nope," Clint agreed, grabbing the door and gesturing for Phil to step outside. It wasn't snowing yet, but Ororo had assured him that it would be soon. Hopefully, they'd be in the park by the time it started.

"Do I want to know what we're doing?" Coulson asked, stepping outside and falling in step with Clint as he led the way.

"Its nothing bad, but just trust me?" Clint requested.

"Always," Coulson nodded. Clint smiled and he steered them toward the small park. They had just entered when it started snowing and Clint smiled seeing the flakes starting to fall. It was a few more minutes before Coulson stopped and looked skyward. Clint took a few more steps, before he stopped turning to look at Coulson. "Why are we out here Barton?"

"Thought we could go for a walk, Sir," Clint replied.

"That's it?" Coulson asked, looking back at him.

"Yep," Clint agreed.

"You took me away from my paperwork for a walk?" Coulson asked, and Clint could see a little bit of his tension slip away.

"Yes," Clint nodded.

"You said it was important," Coulson reminded him, his lips shifting upward.

"It is," Clint said, because Coulson looked really good. "Thought you could use a break."

"I haven't gone for a walk in a long time," Coulson noted.

"I know," Clint said, "And you..."

"I what?" Coulson asked, looking at him.

"You weren't able to do this last year," Clint reminded him.

Coulson looked at him curiously, "You remembered that?"

Clint nodded, "Yeah, I... I wanted to make sure you got to enjoy it as soon as possible."

Coulson smiled warmly at him, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Clint replied. He hesitated, "Listen, about a couple weeks ago."

"A couple weeks ago?" Coulson asked.

"When I was, uh, trying to get Stark off my back," Clint explained. 

"You mean when you called me a workaholic and made suggestions about how dull my sex life is," Coulson asked, stiffening again.

"Yeah," Clint said. "I didn't mean that stuff."

"Obviously, because you have no idea what I'm like in bed," Coulson said.

"I know, and I really am sorry that I said that," Clint said, taking a deep breath.

"It's fine," Coulson said shortly, talking over him.

"But I want to," Clint finished.

"What?" Coulson said, looking stunned.

"I'd like to know what you're like in bed," Clint clarified, feeling stupid for wording it like that.

Coulson's eyes narrowed, "I'm not amused, Barton."

"I'm not trying to amuse you," Clint said, "Tony hit the nail on the head and I panicked, because I didn't want him to know and for it to come from him and you know it would, he's got a big mouth, so I was just trying to shut him up and you overheard it when I was saying the opposite of what I felt."

"The opposite?" Phil asked, "You don't think I'm a workaholic."

"I don't think its a bad thing," Clint said gently. "I mean, I'm just as bad."

Coulson stared at him, staying silent.

"We're both dedicated you know that," Clint said softly. "I know that, I know it's going to take some work to make a relationship work between us, but I'm willing to do that."

"A relationship?" Coulson asked. "I thought you just wanted to find out how I was in bed."

"I do, I just, I want it all," Clint admitted softly. "But most of all I don't want to lose our friendship."

Coulson stared at him for a long moment. "And how long have you felt this way?"

"Years—I didn't want to risk our friendship though. I'd convinced myself it was enough," Clint said. "Then you died and came back, and I decided that when you were better I should say something."

"Why wait until I got better?"

"You needed support while you healed up that was more important," Clint said. Coulson hadn't said anything about reciprocating Clint's feelings during all of this and Clint was starting to believe that Coulson didn't return his feelings. That was alright at least he tried. He hesitated before continuing on, "I'm sorry, I just wanted you to see if you were interested in me, but uh... I guess you aren't and that's okay. I figured it was a long shot, but I...

Clint found the last of his sentence muffled by Coulson's mouth on his. He froze for a moment, before returning it enthusiastically. His hands drifted to the other man's hips as he leaned into the other man. Clint pulled back, "Phil?" Apparently, Phil didn't want to talk, because Clint found himself pulled into another kiss. He made a slight questioning noise.

"Never call me that before," Phil said between kisses, nipping softly at Clint's lip.

"Oh," Clint murmured as he realized that Phil was reacting to his name from Clint's lips. It was the last thought he had for a while, concentrating on Phil's warmth and kissing him. At least until a rather strong, cold gust blew. Phil shuddered and broke away.

"I think we’d better take this inside," Phil noted. Clint nodded. Phil's lip curled slightly, "We'll leave the lights on, I want to be able to see you in the reproduction I have of Captain America's costume."

Clint blinked, before smiling, "If that's what you want."

"Lights on, no Cap costume," Phil said, grabbing his hand and pulling him in the direction of Avenger Tower.

"That works too," Clint agreed. Phil turned and flashed him a wide smile. "Totally the best deal ever."

Phil paused to look at him, "What?"

"I, uh, kinda asked one of the X-Men to give me a head's up about the weather," Clint admitted.

"Did they ask for something in return?" Phil asked.

"Just that if you ask me for my opinion when we expand I recommend we find a mutant," Clint explained. "Really it makes sense. I didn't have to guarantee we'd add one, just recommend we add one."

"Really?" Phil asked. "Any mutant in particular?”

"No, just that we think about adding one."

"Well, in that case..." Phil said, considering, "We've got a mutant that is looking for a second chance. I was going to take point on her recruitment, but you might be a better choice."

"Because I did really well with my second chance?"

"Yeah, plus you recruited Natasha" Phil nodded. "And you two both have led nomadic lives."

"Huh," Clint grunted. "I'd be happy to try."

"Perfect," Phil said. "We'll go over the details tomorrow."

"Or we can take tomorrow off and spend it in bed?" Clint suggested.

"We'll see how it goes," Coulson said, smiling. Clint couldn't resist leaning in and stealing another kiss as the snow fell.


End file.
